By RICK WHITBECK | POWER THE FUTURE
While Alaskans are enjoying the late-arriving spring, with longer days and warmer weather, state Sen. Bill Wielechowski is spending his final days of this legislative session crafting a darker future for Alaskans by putting a chill on Alaska’s economy.
Sen. Wielechowski hates the oil and gas industry, even though one of every six private-sector jobs is tied to it. The revenues and royalties pay for the state government he helps oversee, and the same sources directly impact the Permanent Fund, and through it, the annual dividends each of us receive in October.
So, when the senator sees an opportunity to attack the industry, he does at every turn. His most recent tactic was to hijack legislation with a harmful amendment to HB 50. Should he get his way, Alaska will face threats of cold, dark winter nights, rolling blackouts and brownouts. At the extreme, we lose a corporate partner whose investment in Alaska makes living, working and playing in the Last Frontier better.
His amendment is attempting to target only Hilcorp; changing its tax structure, and forcing them to pay hundreds of millions of dollars more to the State each year. Would any company agree to this, or would they just divert money that would otherwise be invested in new developments, technologies and projects to pay new tax bills?
There are fiscal reasons why we have a two-tiered tax structure. Punishing smaller, privately-owned businesses – forcing them to be taxed like corporations who raise revenue and issue debt on different scales – will drive them away from this state. Guaranteed. One hundred percent.
Will this punitive legislation be used to target other businesses? Is anyone’s tax structure solid, or do we have to wait for Juneau to finish the session?
We do not know, and this uncertainty is a huge red flag for any business that might want to operate in Alaska.
Sen. Wielechowski has tried this before, but clearer heads in the Alaska Legislature prevailed and stopped his shenanigans. However, this time, he attached his mischief to a piece of legislation that Gov. Mike Dunleavy has called crucial to widening Alaska’s revenue stream, as HB 50 would set in motion the possibility of carbon capture and storage programs, among other things.
It’s the sort of last-minute parliamentary trick that makes people dislike government, and make business shy away from investing in our state. It’s unserious and petty, and people or businesses looking to invest billions have little time for the unserious and petty.
Should the Senate pass HB 50, and the House and/or a conference committee let the amendment stand, it would be interesting to see if the governor would veto the bill and risk Hilcorp pulling its investments and redirecting them to the increased tax burden it would face.
Looking at this with a wider lens, why would any company look to Alaska to enter, expand or invest their dollars in, if by doing so, they subject themselves to treatment from the Legislature like Hilcorp would receive from Sen. Wielechowski’s amendment? Why would they want to be penalized for helping grow our state’s economy and improve our energy future? Why would they want to be the next company to incur the wrath of the Legislature’s anti-business agenda?
Passing HB 50 with this amendment sets both bad policy and precedent. Alaska needs Hilcorp, just like we need ConocoPhillips, Santos and all our other producers who fund our state, our first responders, our schools, and employ a bulk of our citizens. Alaska should be saying “thank you” to each of them for their investments, rather than attack them and bemoan their presence. Their activities bring us heat, electricity, economic stability and yes, those annual Permanent Fund dividend checks we all enjoy every October.
Rick Whitbeck is the Alaska State Director for Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs and fights back against economy-killing and family-destroying environmental extremism. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @PTFAlaska
